Rainbow Primary School

Hari is our government engineer who approves plans for new government buildings, including our school. Here is he, really working hard, with the government team and our Naandi Foundation project manager, Mr. Bhartee (white shirt, seated). Mr. Bhartee will oversee the construction of the Rainbow School's new, permanent school building. Hari is a fan of the Naandi Foundation's school construction because Naandi is everywhere in Hyderabad! They are building 300 schools around the city of Hyderabad with funding from the Dell Foundation. Since Hari is so impressed with the Naandi team, he told us about a Central Government pot of money that may be available to help make ends meet for the construction budget. Woo hoo! He's going to apply for the funds (only government people can apply) this week. And with a huge grin, I report that the engineers were FUN, yet very professional. They made sure Mr. Bhartee were looked after while waiting for Hari, the tea was just fantasti...

The Maharaja of Baroda, Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III, was an unusual man. In 1908, he gave a young "untouchable" from Maharastra a full scholarship to Columbia University (NYC). The young man obtained his MA from Columbia, then grew to become one of India's leading lights and the author of the Indian constitution. The Rainbow Primary School teachers have adopted this great Indian, Dr. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, as the guardian "spir it" for the school. His picture will go on the school sign and on the outside walls of the new school building. Mahesh is our greatest student; we think he will be our Dr. Ambedkar. He is a born gentleman, a genuinely gifted student, and mature for his age -- even for a slum child. His mother, a widow, sent him for to work during the summer holiday. When school started, there was no Mahesh. His mother had decided 800 rupees a month was more important than school. After weeks of knocking on his mothers door and begging to send...

Usha Madam, our headmistress, had a great idea. She led the children in a rally around the neighborhood to "advertise" the school and the strength of the student body. Today, we did it a second time. Here they are! What a huge line of kids, it is just crazy! Thanks, Usha Madam! (We call her that, all senior people are called by the first name, then Madam. They try to call me that, but I can't stand it so they call me Auntie.) Here she is, in her office, perfecting the admissions register. After the rally, everyone got bananas. It was lovely to see all the kids settling in, muching down bananas, pulling out books and notebooks to get ready for one set of lessons before the lunch. It is just so good to see them eating. So many of the students are just too thin. Venkatesh (see earlier posts) and his sibilings, Manjula and Swami, are great examples of this. They are tiny creatures. Swami, the youngest, is six but Campbell is nearly ten pounds bigger than he i...

This is Priyanka, our new first standard, B section “junior teacher.” We are up to seventy-five 1st standard children!! Usha Madam (the Headmistress) hired Priyanka yesterday, during another great teacher’s meeting. She will have to pass her 10th standard boards in September to be promoted to a full teacher, a “Vidya Volunteer.” Priyanka is holding onto a new “ladyfinger,” a veggie commonly grown in South India. Beeb, the cook, used that ladyfinger and six others just today in the school lunch. Thanks goes to Ismail for helping to start the school garden.

On Saturday, the Hand of Hope Legal Services team hosted our fourth and fifth standard students for a spectacular day out. They organized a fun football between our team and the A.P. Police. There were high-ranking government officials, including the Chief of Police of the state, and there was even a Telegu movie star! Here he is, in orange. This guy has tens of millions of fans in South India, more fans than David Hasselhoff has in Germany. The children really enjoyed this day. They chattered on and on in the sunshine, they cheered for the teams, they teased each other and ran all around. And they loved riding on a private bus, bouncing all along the way with their friends (with Neha teacher and Divya teacher as chaperones). They didn't smile for the picture, but I promise they were hooting and hollering all day. Stephen Sen and his partner at the law firm, Raju, arranged for hundreds of very deserving children to attend. All the children are struggling: some have HIV or AI...